


talk.

by pyroallerdyce



Series: captured moments. [28]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Modern: No Powers, Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, One Shot Collection, Short One Shot, Wordcount: 1.000-3.000
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-09
Updated: 2020-06-09
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:15:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24627646
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyroallerdyce/pseuds/pyroallerdyce
Summary: She’d been able to tell that Ben had something on his mind recently but he seemed to not be ready to discuss it with her.  She felt that he needed to discuss it with someone, however, and since the café wasn’t super busy yet, she decided to get him someone.  “Hey, Poe?”Poe walked up the cash register and smiled.  “Something not working right?”“No,” Rey said, shaking her head.  “I just think Ben needs to talk about something with someone who is not me and I was wondering if you would go try to get him to do so.  I’m a little worried about it.  He’s been acting strange ever since my surgery.”or:  Rey thinks Ben has something on his mind, and he does, he just isn't ready for her to know about it yet.(this will make little sense if you haven't read the rest of the captured moments series)
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: captured moments. [28]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1602691
Comments: 4
Kudos: 42





	talk.

**Author's Note:**

> Two more to go. Hope you like it.
> 
> And as always, if you like what you read, please let me know via a comment or kudos or bookmark so that I know I'm not writing into a void. Enjoy!

Rey was so unbelievably happy to be working again. Yeah, it was only manning the cash register for the foreseeable future, but being in the café and interacting with everyone made her feel so much better. She never realized how much she would miss being there with everyone until she wasn’t. 

She’d always thought that at some point she’d try to find a better job, but she wasn’t sure that was the case anymore. Yeah, she might be able to find some nine to five job in an office somewhere in town that paid her a little more, but she would miss the café so much. Sure, they could come to eat there as often as they wanted, but Rey wanted to be a part of it. 

Now that Ben had his job back, the fact that she was missing out on tips wasn’t as big of a deal as it would have been without that. She’d wanted to argue with Poe about how she didn’t deserve the raise he’d given her, but she’d stopped when he said that he gave everyone one now that Zorii had told him that he was able to do that. She decided that as long as she wasn’t getting special treatment just because of her current situation, then she’d happily accept the raise. 

Her schedule alternated depending on what time her physical therapy or doctor’s appointments were, but she was mostly there during what would have been her usual late afternoon till close shift. And even though she told him that he absolutely did not have to do it, Ben was there for every shift possible, sitting at the table that Poe had permanently reserved for him in the back. He’d offered to sit further up towards the cash register, but Rey had told him that he would be directly in her eyesight if he sat where he normally did. 

She spent her shift sitting there and watching him in between customers. 

Poe knew and he didn’t care. 

She’d been able to tell that Ben had something on his mind recently but he seemed to not be ready to discuss it with her. She felt that he needed to discuss it with someone, however, and since the café wasn’t super busy yet, she decided to get him someone. “Hey, Poe?”

Poe walked up the cash register and smiled. “Something not working right?”

“No,” Rey said, shaking her head. “I just think Ben needs to talk about something with someone who is not me and I was wondering if you would go try to get him to do so. I’m a little worried about it. He’s been acting strange ever since my surgery.”

“Your surgery was nearly two months ago.”

“I know and that’s why I’m worried,” Rey said. “That’s why I want you to try and talk to him.”

Poe nodded. “You’re probably right about him needing to talk. He’s always been atrocious about doing that. I’ll go talk to him right now.”

“Thank you,” Rey said, and Poe walked in the direction of Ben’s table.

Ben looked up and sighed when Poe pulled out the chair in front of him. “This better be about you and Zorii.”

“No, this is about how you clearly look like you need to talk to someone and you need to do it now,” Poe said seriously. “Rey’s starting to get worried.”

“Worried? Fuck.”

“What is going on?” Poe said seriously. “You tell her fucking everything after a while and she said she’s noticed this since her surgery, and her surgery was nearly two months ago.”

Ben reached for his coffee and took four long sips before setting his cup down and taking nine deep breaths. “If you tell her what this is about, I will murder you.”

“Okay, now I’m worried too. What the fuck is going on?”

Ben took another fourteen deep breaths. “I bought the ring.”

Poe’s jaw dropped. “Seriously?” he eventually said.

Ben nodded. “So like I said, a word to her about what this is about and I will murder you.”

“You’re going to ask her to marry you.”

Ben took two deep breaths. “Yes.”

Poe grinned. “That’s amazing. I better be the first wedding invite you send out.”

“If I manage to do this the way I want to, then there will be no wedding invites.”

Poe was confused. “What?”

“I’m not telling you that. I won’t even tell Mama my plan, which of course is a major issue because she thinks I’m going to fuck this up. And maybe I will, but fuck, I stumble through everything in our relationship. I don’t think Rey would expect this to be any different.”

Poe watched as Ben took six sips of his coffee. “Have you even discussed marriage with her?”

“Sort of. She knows that it’s going to happen, but she thinks that she’ll be waiting a few years for it because I didn’t know how quickly I was going to be able to get to this point. But, fuck, it took me weeks instead of months or years,” Ben said, taking another ten deep breaths. “I don’t think she’ll say no, but I’m still terrified that she might.”

“She is not going to say no,” Poe said firmly. “She has been ready to marry you for months, Ben.”

“I think I knew that already, but we’ve only known each other for a year. It seemed too quick before now to me. But now that I’ve been thinking about it for four months…”

“Four months?” Poe interrupted. “And you haven’t asked yet?”

Ben shook his head. “I need to do this right.”

“You need to just fucking do it,” Poe said, reaching across the table to smack Ben’s shoulder. “What the fuck are you waiting for?”

“The right moment.”

“And when exactly is this right moment?”

“Two weeks from Thursday,” Ben said, taking twenty-one deep breaths. “I’m going to do it then.”

“You better not be just fucking saying that to placate me.”

“I’m not,” Ben said seriously. “That Thursday is one year to the day since we met. And so I’m going to do it that Thursday morning.”

“Then she’s got the day off,” Poe said, smiling at him. “I’m happy for you, Solo.”

“I will be happy when she says yes. Until then, I will be terrified.”

“You’re an idiot.”

“I’m really not,” Ben said. “It’s just the way my mind works. And you know that.”

“Yeah, I know, which is why I am all the more amazed that we’re having this conversation,” Poe said, laughing. “And here I always thought I’d marry Zorii first.”

“What is up with you and Zorii, hm? You haven’t mentioned that in a while.”

“They’re going well,” Poe said. “We said we were going to take it slow which of course means that I’m spending every night at her apartment now because bringing her back to mine with Snap there is counterproductive to everything I want to have happen.”

Ben laughed. “I can only imagine what Snap is like about this.”

“He thinks that it is, and I quote, ‘the greatest and funniest thing in the history of the world.’ So bringing Zorii around him is something that I don’t particularly want to do,” Poe said, shaking his head. “Zorii thinks it’s hysterical.”

“Because it is,” Ben said, smiling. “But don’t worry. Once Snap hears about my plan then I’m sure that Rey and I will go back to being his focus.”

“God, I hope so because this is annoying as shit.” Poe shook his head. “I’m going to tell her that I talked to you and things are fine, okay? I promise I won’t say a word about your plan.”

“You better not because I will murder you. I mean that.” Ben took ten deep breaths. “Tell her that I’m struggling with something about work. That’s something I need to talk to her about anyway.”

“You want to talk to me about it first?”

“No. You’re an idiot. I’d like to talk to someone who isn’t.”

“Fuck off, Ben,” Poe said, standing up. “Need help moving this weekend?”

“No, we’ve got it covered with the moving company,” Ben said. “Besides, I’m not letting you touch anything of mine.”

“You’re never going to forgive me for nearly knocking over that bookshelf, are you?”

“Not a chance in hell.”

“I didn’t fucking mean to!” Poe exclaimed, laughing as he walked away.

He made his way back to the cash register and waited until Rey was finished with the small line that had formed before speaking to her. “I talked to Ben and everything is fine. It’s some stuff about being back to work.”

“He’s been back at work for weeks,” Rey said, looking over at him as Ben picked up an essay. “Why hasn’t he said something to me?”

“Rey, everything’s okay, alright? He said he planned on bringing it up with you soon. He’s just trying to find the right words for it.”

Rey nodded after a moment. “Okay.”

Poe smiled at her. “By the way, I’m going to give you Thursdays off for the next few weeks. I think you need a break.”

“Poe, I can work, it’s fine.”

“I know you can work,” Poe said seriously. “I just think you need a break and so I’m going to give you Thursdays off for the next few weeks. Take a little time to yourself and spend it with Ben since he’s not teaching on Thursdays this semester. Use the time to finish unpacking and stuff.”

Rey smiled after a moment. “Thank you. I still say I’m capable of working, so if you need me to come in, you just call okay? I’ll be happy to.”

“I know you would be,” Poe said, glancing up at the clock. “Take a break and go talk to Ben for a while. I think he’d appreciate the distraction from those essays.”

“Bad?”

“I don’t know. I think he’d like the distraction all the same. I’ll run the register for a while. Take your time.”

“Then I’ll go see him,” Rey said, switching places with Poe. “Thanks.”

Rey walked over to Ben’s table and pulled out a chair, sitting down next to him and leaning into his side. Ben’s arm came around her back and pulled her close, and he bent to kiss her softly. “Hello.”

“Hello to you too,” Rey murmured. “How are the essays?”

“Compared to last semester, they are the best writing in the history of the world.” 

Rey laughed. “That’s good to hear, but seriously, how are they?”

“They are pretty good, actually,” Ben said, picking up the one he’d just graded. “A lot of them have a good grasp on the themes Mary Shelley wrote into _Frankenstein_. Some of them are clearly trying to base everything off of movies. But overall, I’d say that it’s an eighty-twenty split of students who are getting it versus the ones who aren’t, which is a vast improvement over last semester.”

“That’s wonderful, honey,” Rey said, drawing Ben into another kiss. “Poe said you’re struggling with something about work. You know you can talk to me about that, right?”

Ben sighed. “It’s not necessarily a struggle with work as it is they want to give me something that I don’t know that I’ve fully earned.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning Snoke told me that the university is going to give me tenure.”

“Ben, that’s amazing,” Rey said, pulling him into a kiss. “You’ve been working towards that for years.”

“I know, but I didn’t hear anything about me being given it until after everything happened, and I sort of feel like I’m being given it just because they’re still trying to make things up to me.”

Rey just shook her head. “You’ve spent the last ten years doing everything that you needed to get here. Don’t think that you didn’t earn it. You did. Are they giving it to you now because of what happened? Maybe. But they’re not giving it to you without you earning it. They wouldn’t do that.”

Ben took seventeen deep breaths. “You really think so?”

“I would go so far as to say that I know so. And if you are that concerned about it, then I’d say talk to Snoke.”

“Fuck no,” Ben said, laughing. “I mean, we get along well enough, but I’m not exposing my vulnerabilities to him like that.”

“Then just trust me when I say that you earned it, okay?” 

Ben took another three deep breaths before smiling at her. “Okay, darling. I’ll trust you.”

Rey smiled back. “We will have to celebrate this.”

“Celebrate, hm? I guess we could go get ice cream after your shift, though that will mean running into Snap.”

“That’s not the kind of celebrating that I was talking about, honey.”

Ben swallowed hard. “We haven’t done that in a while.”

“Because you’re afraid of hurting me,” Rey said. “But Ben, I promise you, you’re not going to hurt me if you fuck me, okay? And I will tell you if you do.”

“Rey, I…”

“Ben, I’m serious. There is absolutely no reason why we can’t have sex. We are long past the point where that was necessary. And while I absolutely adore your wickedly talented tongue, I’d like more than that.”

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Ben said softly. 

“You won’t,” Rey replied. “I promise.”

Ben took twenty-five deep breaths before nodding. “Then we will celebrate when we get home tonight.”

Rey grinned. “Excellent. Oh, by the way, Poe gave me Thursdays off for the next few weeks so we could spend the day together.”

Ben wanted to curse out loud until he realized that she’d said the next few Thursdays instead of just that particular Thursday. “That’s great, darling,” he said, smiling at her. “We’ll have to think of something fun to do.”

“We’re going to be using a lot of that time to unpack and set up the house,” Rey said, kissing Ben and standing up. “I will come back over here again later, but I should get back to work.”

Ben nodded and Rey bent to kiss him again before walking away.

He didn’t blame Rey for missing sex because he missed sex too, but he didn’t want to hurt her. Maybe she was right when she said that he wouldn’t. Maybe he should trust that she’d tell him if he was hurting her. Maybe he should just forget about everything and lose himself in her arms for a while.

After all, what good was his plan if they couldn’t celebrate with some sex afterward?

Alright, he’d trust that he wasn’t going to hurt her.


End file.
